uPVC questions

[Nigel Molesworth]

My window cleaner* has found a few problems with my uPVC windows, so I thought I'd ask all the questions together.

[1] Has anyone seen a uPVC Espagnolette like this one? difference is that there is no fixed part, just a sliding part. [2] I may be able to fit a standard espag, if I can get a 15mm one. Can anyone suggest a good source of uPVC fittings? [3] One of my uPVC windows has blown (there is trapped moisture). Is fixing it a DIY job? [4] Where do the bloody flies come from? Open a conservatory window after the winter and the 40mm gap between the seals is full of flies.

• Mrs M

[Guy King]

The message from Nigel Molesworth contains these words:

Usually. Look and you'll see that the angled bit round the glass is removeable on one side. Should be the inside! Careful prising will work it out, then the glass just lifts out. Take it to your local glazier and he'll make you a new one.

Expect to wait a week or so if it has to be toughened, so you might have to put the old one back pro tem.

Refitting (as Haynes manuals suggest) is the reverse of disassembly.

[Lobster]

No, the removable beading is equally likely to be on the inside as the outside - just different designs. If it's on the *inside*, then chances are that the sealed unit will be stuck very firmly to the frame with double-sided glazing tape, and certainly won't just drop out: it may well need smashing to remove it. So have your new unit there to hand before you try this! It's easy enough to measure the height and width of the unit, but also important is the thickness - these vary, and it

*must* be the right thickness for your window frame.

David

[.]

didn't they do away with external beading in the 80's ?

[Colin Wilson]

No, ours was fitted by St Helens Glass in 1995 (?) and has external beading.

The glass also has riveted metal clips around the corners, so afaik you have to smash the sealed units to remove them.

[daddyfreddy]

I think you meant to say if it was on the outside it would be stuck?

So have your new unit there to hand

[daddyfreddy]

Same here. All UPVC windows I've bought have been externally beaded and that goes for windows bought in 2001,2004 and 2005. Internally beaded, AFAIK, are rarer. They'd certainly be easier to install when it comes to placing the glass in but there are two camps of thought on which is better.

[.]

how odd. /all/ of the windows and doors I've installed or had installed over the past 10 years have been installed by first putting the frames into the reveals with frame fixers

packing with shims and then putting the sealed units & door panels in from the _inside_ by simply clipping the beading in. is a fair descripion of how it's done but there's no substitute for experience.

YMMWV

[Lobster]

Bought one this week.

David

[Lobster]

[Andrew Gabriel]

Internal beading appeared for a few years because of security concerns on external beading. People didn't like it because the uPVC profile is significantly bigger (particularly openers, which look very ugly with lots of uPVC and little glass). The security problem with external beading was fixed (and can be retrofitted to older windows), and hence internal beading has dropped off again.